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Smith & Wesson Model 10
The .50 cal is heavy and needs a vehicle to carry it around unlike the compact, and relatively lightweight GPMG, but the venerable ‘ma deuce’ hits far harder at much longer ranges – 1.5 miles later your lead is still flying and your enemy is still ducking. A sustained burst of fire will shred a wall and stop most vehicles apart from advanced APCs or tanks.
Stick it up on a truck or even a Humvee and you have a truly powerful, mobile weapon for a fraction of the cost of other platforms.
That trusty M2HB is reliable as well as versatile.
It terrifies enemy infantry.
It can be used to range in your bigger guns on a target.
In a tight spot it can be used to take down a 20 million dollar, strafing aircraft just as granddad stopped bandits like the Focke Wulf 190 with it in WWII.
No GPMG is a good substitute in that role.
It has no circuit boards to fry in an electromagnetic pulse, no batteries to fail, and no guidance system to jam with electronics or a burst of chaff.
Even in our technological age there are few better ways to even out a fight than with a .50 calibre machine gun, a well-trained gunner, and a thousand rounds of ammunition.
When selecting someone to victimize, criminals want the maximum return on investment with the least amount of effort and risk involved. People with disabilities, especially those who use wheelchairs for mobility, undoubtedly fall into the “soft target” category in the eyes of criminals. When it comes to wheelchair concealed carry, some special attention must be paid.
[Editor’s Note: Photography by Taylor Elizabeth Photography.]
I was shot and paralyzed from the waist down in a gunfight while serving as a U.S. Marine infantryman during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. I spent months recovering in the hospital before finally getting back into society again as a civilian with a severe disability, and I immediately felt physically vulnerable around shady-looking characters. So it made sense that I’d eventually want to start carrying a handgun for protection and become more self-defense minded in general.
However, I had no clue what type of concealment method or holster to use, or even how to set up the holster for my own personal needs, so I simply mimicked how my able-bodied peers were running theirs. Over a decade later, with knowledge gained in more than 100 training classes and 50 different firearms instructors, the end result is a box full of holsters that just didn’t work for me. That’s not to say they’re all bad; they just don’t suit my specific needs.
My goal here is to help prevent you, or someone else you know who’s in a wheelchair, from having to figure it out on your own like I had to.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
First and foremost — regardless of your chosen carry method — your handgun needs to be inside of a holster, and that holster should actually be designed for your gun’s make and model. The trigger guard needs to be completely covered and the holster alone should effectively retain the pistol. Only use high-quality holsters made of rigid materials like Kydex or injection-molded polymer.
The ability to adjust the depth and angle the holster sits at can be very important when you’re always sitting in a wheelchair as well, because the waistline of your pants typically rides at an angle instead of being level. So it’s important to have a holster that allows you to adjust it to suit your specific needs. The holster itself should also stay in place wherever you attach it and not move around, so that when you go to draw the handgun it’s always going to be where you expect it to be.
Before I break down each wheelchair concealed carry method, allow me to explain the requirements that dictate my personal methods of concealment (for any self-defense tool). First, I want my gun to be easily accessible at all times, regardless of the context in which I may need it. I should also be able to quickly access and draw the pistol using just one hand (left or right) if forced to, no matter if the other hand is injured or just busy fending off an attacker, grasping another tool such as a handheld flashlight or fixed blade knife, or controlling my wheelchair.
I also need to be capable of achieving this whether I’m in my wheelchair, driving my vehicle, sitting on the couch with the wife, or even if I’m thrown from my chair and lying on the ground. Bottom line: If I have to draw my gun, I want to be able to access it as quickly as humanly possible.
CARRYING ON-BODY
Carrying your handgun on-body, in an IWB (inside the waistband) holster secured somewhere along your waistline, whether attached to your pants or belt, or even directly to your body using something like the new Phlster “Enigma” concealment chassis, is by far the most effective and efficient way to go about it. Carrying on-body checks all of the above considerations, and the gun also goes wherever your body goes. Imagine fighting or holding off an attacker with one hand, while simultaneously drawing your gun with the other … and doing both of these things while on the ground after having been thrown out of your chair. You ideally want your gun to go wherever your body goes, without ever being physically separated from it.
As an example, I carry on my “strong side” (right hip) at 3 o’clock. I typically carry either a Glock 17 or 48 in a Tenicor “Certum3” holster (not a typo), depending on what I’m wearing. Since I cannot wear a belt on a daily basis (they can break down my skin and give me a wound on my tailbone), I use Discreet Carry Concepts metal clips that really bite into any of the pants I wear. The DCC clips keep my holster in place all day long, and I’ve never once had the holster come out in addition to the gun in the thousands of draws I’ve done since I began using them several years ago. They are by far the best clips I’ve seen or used to date on my holsters, magazine pouches, and knife sheaths.
If you do wear a belt on a daily basis (and you should, if possible), make sure it’s a belt that’s actually designed for carrying the weight of a gun and your other tools. You can also use soft loops when wearing a belt if you prefer them over clips.
Carrying appendix IWB is also a great option if you’re able to do it (I can’t, or I probably would). Just keep in mind that it’s crucial to use a holster that’s truly designed for carrying AIWB. My friend Luke Cifka, an instructor for Sage Dynamics, is a double above-knee amputee in a wheelchair who carries AIWB every day. “Equipment setup will make or break your draw stroke from a chair,” he says. “Chair users may have limited use of trunk mobility, which can complicate the draw since the user may not be able to straighten up to achieve a good grip.”
I agree, completely. It’s unique challenges like that which will dictate your ideal carry gun, concealment method, and holster setup. You’ve already got to work around your disability, so don’t compromise on your equipment.
Let me also briefly address carrying on an ankle or small of the back. Both of these can actually be good for concealment, but they’re much slower and require more overt movements to draw (making a slow-draw far more challenging) and are suboptimal carry locations if thrown to the ground. They may have some utility for carrying backup guns, but not as primary methods of concealment.
CARRYING OFF-BODY
Off-body wheelchair concealed carry (i.e. inside of a shoulder bag, purse, briefcase, etc.) is, of course, always better than carrying no gun at all, but isn’t ideal for multiple reasons. For one, you always have to maintain positive control of the bag at all times. If it’s not on your person, then it’s an unsecured gun and that’s a good way for someone to access it who shouldn’t, like a child or your intoxicated friend at the dinner party you’re attending.
Something else to keep in mind: If you get thrown out of your chair and are receiving blows from your opponent, your bag will move and twist every which way. You’ll potentially be trying to draw your handgun while both you and your bag are simultaneously shifting around as you’re defending yourself … and that’s assuming it even stays attached to you or isn’t pinned underneath your back.
If you do decide to carry in a bag, buy one that you can wear crossbody on your strong side that’s purpose-built for carrying a handgun and has the ability to mount a good holster inside. You can also buy your own hook and loop tape to securely attach the holster inside of a bag. But this only works if it’s mounted inside a pouch or another tight compartment, so that it’ll always stay in place and be where you expect it when you need it.
Whatever bag you choose, it needs to provide easy access to the gun under stress as fast as humanly possible.
WHEELCHAIR-MOUNTED
Lastly, there’s the ability to mount a holster somewhere on your wheelchair itself. (Side note: This actually works great for competition shooting and home defense.) This is technically still off-body carry, but it’s unique in that it always stays attached to your wheelchair, which does almost feel like an extension of your body.
I’ve seen one guy online who mounts his gun in a Level 2 retention holster on the frame of his manual wheelchair (close to his right knee), and then places a general-purpose pouch of some kind over the top of his gun, which serves to camouflage it completely. It looks a bit odd having such a large “pouch” hanging off the front side of his wheelchair, but this is definitely the best execution I’ve seen thus far of a wheelchair-mounted concealed handgun. When he wants to draw the gun, he simply rips off the dummy pouch, which exposes his holstered handgun, giving him immediate access to it.
The biggest downsides with carrying your handgun in any wheelchair-mounted holster are:
Becoming completely separated from your lifesaving tool the moment you’re knocked out of your chair and need it most.
Mounting it will likely have to be done by you, because it’s such a niche product, and concealing it takes some creativity.
Every time you transfer to your vehicle (unless you sit and drive from your actual wheelchair), you’ll have to safely move your gun from your wheelchair-mounted holster and into the vehicle with you somewhere that it’s readily accessible and will stay put.
When you transfer to someone else’s vehicle and do not want them knowing you have a gun, you’ll have to figure out a way to stealthily transfer the gun out of your wheelchair-mounted holster and into the vehicle with you, be it inside a bag or elsewhere on your person. You’ll also have to achieve this out of sight from anyone passing by or potentially even helping you into the vehicle.
Although mounting firearms on your wheelchair isn’t usually the best method, mounting other tools can actually be very advantageous.
I have a handheld flashlight mounted on the left side of my wheelchair, which is my support-hand side. I’m able to quickly access it with my support hand, which keeps my strong hand free to always be staged and ready to draw my handgun. I just used zip-ties to mount a G-Code universal magazine pouch to the frame of my chair, so I can carry any flashlight I want in that.
You can also mount spare mags, knives, pepper spray, tourniquets, etc. to your chair. I’ve got a Benchmade SOCP knife mounted to the frame on the right side of my chair. Although I could certainly use it for self-defense, honestly for me it’s primarily a utility knife that’s readily accessible.
MEDICAL
One item everyone should carry is a tourniquet, and there’s several different ways to carry one. You can wear one on your ankle if you choose, or mount it to your chair, or even stow one in your backpack. I actually have my Dark Angel Medical D.A.R.K. trauma kit attached to the right side of my backpack via MOLLE webbing. I also have three extra tourniquets in my backpack. Pretty much every person in a wheelchair has a small backpack hanging on the back of their chair, so there’s no reason not to carry items that could save your life or the lives of people you care about.
SPARE MAGS
When it comes to carrying spare magazines, body type again comes into play. When I carry a spare magazine on my body, I use the Bawidamann Vertical Uber CC Mag Carrier, because it allows the magazine to sit very deep inside my pant line. My spinal cord injury is “complete,” so I have a gut that will always stick out right at the level where my paralysis begins (level T12). Because of this, a standard-depth mag pouch prints terribly on me, but you may not have this problem.
BLADES
Like tourniquets, everyone should carry a fixed blade knife (local laws permitting). I carry a Headhunter Blades “Rat” fixed blade knife on the support-hand side of my waistline, around 10 o’clock. This blade is extremely concealable and is easy to draw from the high-quality Kydex sheath that accompanies it. You can also attach the sheath to any pants material you wear, thanks to its metal spring clip. Amtac Blades is another great knife company.
One of the advantages a fixed blade offers is that it’s very fast to draw and doesn’t require as much movement to do a stealthy slow-draw. I’ve been in places where I can’t carry a gun, and I’ll actually carry a fixed-blade knife on each hip. If I’m forced to roll past some shady-looking individuals, I may even slow-draw a blade and keep it staged in my hand and keep pushing my chair without anyone ever knowing I have a knife in hand as I pass by them, as my blade is camouflaged by my wheel.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The one common theme for wheelchair concealed carry is that you need to be able to access any of your self-defense tools as easily and quickly as possible, be it a gun, knife, pepper spray, spare magazine, etc. When you’re in a wheelchair you have to think outside the box to accomplish things that able-bodied people take for granted, and self-defense is no different.
Don’t simply decide on a method of wheelchair concealed carry, buy a holster and then immediately begin carrying a gun in it the next day. Practice drawing from concealment in both dry and live practice before deciding to carry your handgun using a preferred method. Lastly, always seek out quality training from highly qualified instructors in order to constantly get better and become harder to kill.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Gardner is a former U.S. Marine Rifleman, firearms training junkie, and firearms instructor. He recently started his own training company, Strive Tactical. For now, he can be found on Instagram @Wheelchair_Technical.
Attorney General Jeff Landry (R) discussed his run for Governor of Louisiana with Breitbart News and affirmed constitutional carry will finally be secured once he is in the gubernatorial office.
As we talked, constitutional carry was the first topic that came up. Recent history has shown constitutional carry has the overwhelming support of the Louisiana legislature but is opposed by the state’s current governor, John Bel Edwards (D).
In fact, the Associated Press reported that Edwards vetoed constitutional carry legislation on June 25, 2021.
Landry sees it differently. He does not believe Louisiana residents need a permit from the government in order to participate in Second Amendment freedoms.
Jeff Landry, attorney general of Louisiana, during a Weaponization of the Federal Government Subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, March 30, 2023. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty)
He said, “The current Gov. of this state has vetoed constitutional carry but we’re going in and passing that.”
Landry focused on how criminals are armed, whether permits are required or not, and he observed, “The problems are not the guns, the problems are cultural. The problems are broken families, the problems are poor educational opportunities, the problems are not supporting programs that teach the proper use and handling of firearms.”
He observed, “Those that blame the gun are the first ones that would put an iPhone in a kid’s hand rather than give him love and guidance.”
Landry summed up his views on constitutional carry by pointing out, “I support further strengthening the right of our citizens, their ability to exercise the Second Amendment of the constitution, and I will be focused on any way that we can strengthen that at the state level.”
The NRA has endorsed Landry in the upcoming Louisiana gubernatorial election:
Landry spoke to Breitbart News about the endorsement, saying that the day they endorsed him was “one of the proudest days of [his] life.”
He added, “I’m a lifetime member of the NRA and I believe in the mission. Look, we’ve got a number of gun rights organizations out there, and the NRA’s been the leader in that space. and to have their endorsement speaks volumes about my record defending the Second Amendment.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
A nostalgic look at America’s classic bolt-action hunting rifle.
Photo above: Barsness’s Springfield Sporter was built by Frank Pachmayr in the 1930s. Originally a .35 Whelen, it was later rechambered to .358 Norma Magnum.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the U.S. Army decided it needed a more modern bolt-action rifle. Since 1892, the Army had been using variations of the Krag-Jorgenson rifle, which was chambered for the .30 U.S round commonly known as the .30-40 Krag. Despite America winning the 1898 Spanish-American War in Cuba, it did not go unnoticed that the 1895 Mauser rifles used by Spain could be reloaded far quicker than Krags, which had a rather clumsy, hinge-topped magazine on the side of the action. The 1895s used disposable “stripper-clips” that could be inserted quickly into the top of the action, instantly loading five rounds.
The Army designed a new action, which used stripper clips so similar to the Mauser’s that the U.S. Government had to pay royalties to the Mauser company. The action itself was a combination of Mauser and Krag features, and in 1903 was accepted as the new service rifle.
The U.S. also “designed” a new cartridge for the 1903 rifle, strongly resembling the first smokeless German military round, today known in the U.S. as the 8×57 Mauser. The 8×57 had a rimless case, formed by cutting an extractor groove around the case-head, resulting in a rim the same diameter as the cartridge body.
The 1903 Springfield’s cartridge was also rimless, and in another not-so-astonishing coincidence, featured the same 12mm (.472 inch) rim diameter as the 8×57. The overall case was slightly longer, and used the same 220-grain roundnose bullet as the .30-40 Krag, at a muzzle velocity of 2,300 fps.
Soon afterward, however, Germany dropped the 8×57’s heavy round-nose bullet, switching to a 154-grain spitzer (pointed) bullet at a muzzle velocity around 2,800 fps. The faster, sleeker bullet extended the 8×57’s range considerably, and the U.S. again followed the German lead by switching to a 150-grain spitzer at 2,700 fps. Officially termed the “cartridge, ball, caliber .30, Model of 1906,” it soon became known as the .30-06.
Hunters started using the new rifle and round, which resulted in a major secondary industry, converting 1903 Springfield military rifles into sporters. The first and most famous 1903 was ordered from Springfield Armory by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1904. The Armory fitted a custom-made sporter stock, partly fashioned after one of Roosevelt’s Winchester rifles, with a short fore-end, cheekpiece, and commercial buttplate, and replaced the military open sights with Lyman sporting sights.
Even for America’s commander-in-chief, this work wasn’t free. Roosevelt paid $42.13 for the job, equivalent to around $1,200 today, and in 1905 he took a Colorado black bear with the rifle, using the military 220-grain load. It was also one of three rifles he took on his long, post-presidential East African safari in 1909-10, along with an 1895 Winchester lever-action in .405 WCF and a Holland & Holland .500/.450 double. He used the newer 150-grain spitzer .30-06 ammo; the pointed bullet tended to tumble when hitting game, killing quickly.
Roosevelt’s book about the safari, African Game Trails, alerted plenty of hunters to the 1903 Springfield’s potential, including Roosevelt’s friend, the well-known author Stewart Edward White, who in 1910 commissioned gunsmith Louis Wundhammer to build five Springfield sporters—one for him, and four for friends.
Wundhammer was born in Bavaria but by 1910 lived in Los Angeles, a hotbed of custom sporting rifles during much of the twentieth century. White’s rifle was apparently the first commercially made Springfield sporter, and of course he also published a book about his 1912 safari.
From then on a 1903 Springfield sporter became the rifle for cutting-edge American sportsmen. The list of well-known Springfield fans includes Ernest Hemingway (who ordered his from Griffin & Howe), and Army officer and author Townsend Whelen, who owned several Springfield sporters made by various gunsmiths.
Eventually even Springfield Armory produced a sporting version, which could be purchased by members of the National Rifle Association. Several thousand were sold from 1924 to 1933. They resembled a plainer version of Roosevelt’s rifle, but had a Lyman receiver sight, the Model 48, developed specifically for the 1903 rifle.
Custom 1903 Springfields attracted such lofty customers partly because most American “authorities” (including Whelen) considered the 1903 a better action than the 1898 Mauser used by many gunsmiths and European firearms companies—not necessarily mechanically, but in manufacturing quality. Military 98 Mausers were made all over the world in vast numbers, sometimes by factories not so concerned about fit and finish, and even some gunsmiths in Germany made Springfield sporters.
I started slowly falling under the spell of the Springfield after beginning to hunt big game in the 1960s, when the Civilian Marksmanship Program sold a bunch of “war surplus” 1903 Springfields to retail companies. Many local hunters bought surplus Springfields, some using the rifles as-is, especially the less expensive 1903A3 version produced by Remington and the L.C. Smith & Corona Typewriter Company during World War II, which had an aperture sight better for field use than the open sights of the original 1903.
The 1960s were the last gasp of converting original 1903 Springfields to sporting rifles; by the 1970s, original military rifles started becoming too valuable to convert. I bought my first Springfield sporter in the 1970s, a typical 1960s “garage” job converted for scope use, with a semi-inletted walnut stock and a Canjar custom trigger. I spiffed up the stock a little, and hunted with the rifle for several years.
A quarter-century later I started lusting after one of the classic custom Springfields made before World War II, in large part due my friend Tim Crawford giving me a brand-new book in 2005, Custom Gunmakers of the 20th Century, written by Michael Petrov, a rifle loony from Anchorage, Alaska. Petrov had published a series of articles about custom Springfields for the now-defunct Precision Shooter magazine, which they eventually collected in book form.
Reading Petrov taught me a lot more about Springfield sporters, and a year later I ran across The One, on the late Ike Ellis’s table at a local gun show. Ike was a fine custom stockmaker who owned a big sporting goods store in Idaho Falls, so he knew his stuff. This particular Springfield had a classic, highly-figured black walnut stock, finely and extensively checkered in a fleur-de-lis pattern, with the requisite Lyman 48 receiver sight and Lyman Alaskan scope in a detachable Griffin & Howe side-mount.
But it also had white-line spacers between the ebony fore-end tip and grip cap, and a ventilated Pachmayr white-line recoil pad. This seemed odd for a custom rifle typical of the pre-World War II era—until I picked it up and saw “Frank Pachmayr” engraved on the barrel.
Frank and his father, Gus, were among the very top custom gunsmiths of the pre-World War II era. Like Wundhammer, they were based in Los Angeles, so had plenty of great stock wood from California walnut groves. Frank came up with the concept of white-line spacers before the war, even making some from elephant ivory.
The barrel was engraved “.35 Whelen,” but the tag read “.358 Norma Magnum,” one of the many .30-06-length belted magnums that appeared in the two decades after the war. No doubt the rifle got converted then, when the Whelen was still a wildcat and the Norma a new factory round. The rifle seemed like such a perfect illustration of Springfield sporter history that of course, I succumbed.
Eileen and I ended up in Alaska a couple years later, on our way to open ptarmigan season with our outfitter friends Phil Shoemaker, his wife, Rocky Harrison, and their kids Tia and Taj. Of course Phil knew Mike Petrov, and told him we’d be overnighting at an Anchorage motel. Mike invited us to dinner, and we had a great evening with him and his wife, Janet, much of it among his collection of fine rifles. Mike and I kept in touch, and in 2013 he sent me a copy of Volume Two of Custom Gunmakers of the 20th Century, an even more impressive collection of new and updated information.
Unfortunately, Mike passed away a year later, but through the books his knowledge of Springfield sporters lives on—though they now sell for far more than the original $16.95. For hunters who’d like to learn almost everything about classic Springfield sporters, they’re worth the price.
On Thursday, 9/21, local farmer militiamen in South Africa stopped a gang of 15 armed robbers armed with AK-47s who had just robbed an armored car, killing the driver. The local volunteers apprehended the fugitives after a high-speed chase, including a dangerous Mozambican criminal wanted for murder of a police officer.
The robbery took place in Hoedspruit (Hat Springs) outside Polokwane in Limpopo Province, which were named Pietersburg and North Transvaal by the original settlers before the campaign to ethnically cleanse the Afrikaner language and culture from South Africa.
Heavily armed attacks on armored cars are so common in South Africa they are known as Cash-in-Transit heists (CIT).
“15 robbers armed with automatic rifles carried out a CIT heist in Hoedspruit, killing the Fidelity driver,“ reports YouTuber Willem Petzer.
Hero farmers from Hoedspruit kills 4 CIT robbers and wounds 3 after police flee the scene.
Full story:
Today, 22/09/2023, 15 robbers armed with automatic rifles carried out a CIT heist in Hoedspruit, killing the driver Fidelity driver. Police fled the scene when the robbers… pic.twitter.com/QtHq8KsaYp
— Willem Petzer (@willempet) September 22, 2023
According to police spokesman Colonel Matimba Maluleke, the suspects shot at the escort vehicle before disarming the guards (a driver and crew) of their official rifle and pistol. “Unfortunately the two guards were shot at and sustained injuries that resulted in the death of the driver. The suspects then pursued the armoured vehicle while shooting at it until it stopped.
The driver of the armoured vehicle and his crew were allegedly ordered to disembark the vehicle, disarmed of two firearms and chased into the nearby bushes. The suspects used explosives to blast the vehicle and made off with an undisclosed amount of money,” Maluleke said.
“A community crime watch group, Hoedspruit Farmwatch, was alerted to the incident and went in pursuit of the robbers, putting obstacles on the road to prevent their escape. A shootout ensued,” Petzer writes.
It is further reported that the suspects started shooting at members of Hoedspruit Farmwatch who in self-defence returned fire. During the shootout, four suspects were killed and one (28) was injured and arrested on the spot. The other suspects ran into the nearby bushes and…
— Ian Cameron (@IanCameron23) September 23, 2023
“The Hoedspruit Farmwatch volunteers blocked the roads outside of Hoedspruit with boulders after they were alerted of the attack. A skirmish, lasting about 20 minutes, ensued at one of the blockades between the robbers and the farmers, who were armed with pistols. The farmers managed to kill 4 of the robbers and wound 3. No farmer was hurt. The other suspects fled into nearby bushes after the shootout on foot.”
“The Hoedspruit farmwatch tracked them down using their dogs and arrested the rest of them, recovering all the money from the heist. Great job by the farmers!” Petzer writes.
Hoedspruit Farmwatch denied that South African Police Service officers had fled the scene.
MESSAGE ON BEHALF OF HOEDSPRUIT FARMWATCH
Hoedspruit Farmwatch would like to thank everyone for the positive response and support being received so far. We are very proud to serve the community of Hoedspruit and our immediate surrounds and it is an honour to be part of such a…— Ian Cameron (@IanCameron23) September 23, 2023
Police spokesperson Colonel Malesela Ledwaba said the community protection team “returned fire and when the dust settled, four suspects were fatally shot, one injured and arrested while others managed to evade arrest by running into nearby bushes,” The Citizen reports.
The fleeing duo was “arrested while travelling to Acornhoek in a taxi following an intense search mission by the Hoedspruit Farmwatch, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation and a chopper,” Ledwaba stated.
“One of the arrested suspects is a highly wanted Mozambican suspect who has been on the run for some time for a spate of crimes he committed in the Free State in 2022 including the murder of a police officer. The injured suspects were found in possession of suspected stolen money, a rifle and a pistol,” the police spokesman said.
Several community safety organizations met Sept. 19 in Centurion to join forces to to curb farm attacks and rural crime, including AfriForum, Southern African Agri Initiative (SAAI), Transvaal Agricultual Union TLU SA, AgriSA, Forum Sekuriteit, Sakeliga, the South African Special Forces Association (SASFA) and the Association for South African Military veterans, AfriForum reported.
“AfriForum is excited about the fact that all these organisations are willing to join hands and make a difference against the wave of farm attacks and increasing rural crime. The SAPS itself has already admitted that it cannot fulfil its mandate, and this is obvious when one looks at the chaotic state of crime in the country. It is now time for communities to safeguard themselves,” said Jacques Broodryk, AfriForum’s spokesperson for Community Safety.
According to Dr. Theo de Jager, executive director of SAAI, the different organizations, civil structures and agricultural unions have feet on the ground when it comes to rural security: “Some organisations have farm watches in remote areas or camera systems, radio networks, emergency centres or response units. Others post guards, patrol national roads or establish and manage private fire services. Ultimately, everyone is in the same industry and has one goal in mind – to secure communities where the government can no longer do it,” said De Jager.
AfriForum’s Security Head Jacques Broodryk on Farm Murders: